Dubai Cares honours winners of Distinguished Philanthropic Award in schools

Dubai Cares, part of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, honoured the winners of its “Dubai Cares Distinguished Philanthropic Award in Schools” at a special ceremony held in Dubai on Thursday.

The winners of both award categories - the Philanthropic School Award and the Young Philanthropists Award - were recognised for their hard work in developing creative and effective fundraising concepts to help raise funds and co-create ideas in support of Dubai Cares’ efforts to help children and young people in developing countries realise their hopes and dreams through education.

All the participating schools, as well as supporting partners, were acknowledged for their commendable efforts. The UAE Ministry of Education and the Knowledge & Human Development Authority, KHDA, played an important role in the award’s success.

Dubai Cares launched the Dubai Cares Distinguished Philanthropic Award in Schools in 2015 to encourage students from UAE-based public and private schools to create innovative and effective fundraising concepts to support quality education for children in developing countries.

Commenting on the event, Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer at Dubai Cares, said, “Through this award, we have witnessed our nation’s energetic, compassionate, and forward-thinking students - with the support of their schools - embody their commitment to philanthropy which is at the core of the ‘Year of Giving.’ The UAE’s ‘Year of Giving’ encourages all of us to look beyond our own lives, and our personal concerns and priorities, and dedicate ourselves to improving and transforming the lives of others through volunteerism, service, social responsibility, and global citizenship. We thank all participating students and schools who have shown impressive creativity in developing and executing successful and unique fundraising concepts.”

The competition consists of two categories - the Philanthropic School Award, which was awarded to the school that has raised the most amount of fund, and the Young Philanthropists Award, awarded to the group of students who had the most creative and original fundraising concept.

In the Philanthropic School Award category, the first, second and third place winners were Dubai National School, GEMS Modern Academy and the Kindergarten Starters, respectively. In the Young Philanthropists Award category, teams from Al Jurf Secondary School, GEMS Royal Dubai School and Primus Private School took the top three spots respectively.

“The results this year were truly inspiring. We were very impressed by the creativity, clarity of thought and optimism of students. The fundraising concepts presented by students demonstrate awareness and compassion among the UAE’s younger generation, whose creative talents and capacity for giving have been encouraged and empowered by their teachers, co-ordinators, and principals. Together, they have brought this campaign to life, and the greatest tribute to their efforts is that they will now bring hope and open up new horizons for their peers in developing countries by providing them with an opportunity to go to school and learn,” said Amal Al Redha, Director of Fundraising at Dubai Cares.

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